The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

You know that feeling you have on your child’s birthday… that feeling you get when you are in a panic, trying to understand the instructions that will help you assemble The Perfect Gift? That Perfect Gift that came in 100 pieces? The one your child is no longer patiently waiting to play with? You know that feeling you get when you want to throw the box against the wall and crumble up the instructions because nothing makes sense? I think that is sometimes how we approach digital and social capabilities.

Sometimes our real-life experiences as customers provide those of us at The Center for Sales Strategy with great examples of how the sales process should flow. Not long ago, my air conditioner died, so I asked my trusted neighbors who they would recommend. We valued their opinion, so we called that company. The next day, this service provider came to our house. (We also called another company, and they said they would come and never did). The rest of the story is near-perfect execution of customer focused selling.

A couple of weeks ago, we posted “How to Get Started with Business Blogging.” The reaction to this post has certainly exceeded expectations; as we have received an incredible amount of email from business owners, sales managers, marketers and sales people who all want more information. They see the benefit of having a business blog, and they understand—and want to own—a thought leadership position with their customers and prospects. They have a real need to establish a better lead generation system because the one they have right now (or not at all) is simply not cutting it.

It's the official kick off to summer, which means it’s time to kick back and relax with a good book. You wanted to read about sales and marketing in your down time, right? We asked some of the staff at The Center for Sales Strategy for their top selections:

Welcome to the official kick off to summer! After you take some time this weekend to honor those who have served our country, you might want to catch up on some of these blog posts from The Center for Sales Strategy. These are some of our favorites from the past few months. If you are interested in sales, sales management, digital, talent development or inbound marketing... there is something for you here!

Notice how I didn't title this post, "Learning Digital is a Piece of Cake?" Understanding digital and all the facets of this complex media can be intimidating. There are new terms and new definitions to live by, there's new technology to create and deliver messages and best of all, there seems to be something new to learn everyday! You can even find the word, "Facebook," in the children's Scholastic Dictionary! Digital is everywhere.

You can find cakes in a number of places, too. When baking a cake, you have many ingredients… eggs, flour, oil, sugar and more. How much you use of each ingredient is crucial to the success of your cake. Also, what dish you bake it in, and the time and temperature you bake it at, can also make or break your cake. Take it from me, I've messed up my fair share of cakes!

Just like baking a cake, learning digital can take time, but if you commit to learning the 'what,' of digital and 'why' marketers need to know about it, you will be seen as an invaluable resource to those still learning about digital themselves. The difference is, unlike baking where there is only one way to reach success, there are lots of ways you can help use digital to achieve marketing goals.

The Center for Sales Strategy has developed an online course, a series of videos based on our popular Digital What & Why primer used in the Digital Sales Accelerator workshop. Take this quick online course to build on what you already know—or take the time to learn new things! Either way, the Digital What & Why is a tool you can use.

It is a safe and generally smart practice for a salesperson to under-promise and shoot to over-deliver. So why would you ever want to vary from this “under-promise” strategy? If you want to keep growing personally and discover new ways to help clients, once in a while you need to stretch a little and promise something you don’t normally deliver, but feel quite confident you can get done. There is risk involved in this, but if you get it right, you’ll delight the client and add a new capability to your tool kit.

In almost any relationship (not just marriage), there is a period in which the parties are utterly thrilled with each other. Whether you are working with a new client, or if a recent job change makes you the new kid on the staff... there seems to be somewhat of a grace period that gives us considerable latitude early in these new relationships. Think about why that might be:

When Boston Scientific CIO Rich Adduci attended the first iPad reveal two years ago, he instantly knew the device would be a game changer for sales and marketing teams. He described the moment watching Steve Jobs walk onto the stage like a light bulb going off in his head.

Cold calling can be an inefficient use of a sales person’s time and talent. As a manager, I want sales people spending the majority of their time on activities that are directly tied to revenue. It’s important for our sales people to be in front of clients and prospects helping to address business challenges—which is why we at Cox Media Group Louisville recently launched an inbound marketing effort, led by our blog LouisvilleEdge.com. We believe it’s the perfect next step to elevate ourselves from our competition. It gives us the ability to provide real-time information on topics that are important to our clients. Here are six reasons that we thought an inbound marketing campaign was the right investment for us.

A friend of mine was recently complaining about a computer vendor that had failed to deliver on some training that was promised as part of a major purchase. Oh, the training was conducted… it just wasn’t effective (at least, in the buyer’s opinion). For weeks after the equipment was deployed, “People were still spinning their wheels, trying to figure out the new system,” he explained.

What do a great party hostess and a great manager have in common? They take ownership of the outcome. Whether you are planning an amazing party or ramping up a new sales person, there are similar strategies you can follow to make sure everyone is engaged, and everything runs smoothly.

Let me create the scene: you’re meeting with your new prospect for the first time, and your goal is to build rapport and begin a needs analysis that will build your credibility as an expert in your field, and as someone who really cares about their business. You want your prospect to believe you’re someone who can truly help them solve their complex business problems. To accomplish this, you intend to metaphorically put yourself behind your client’s desk to uncover key challenges and prime opportunities their business is facing so that you may become their partner and work with them to create customized solutions. You’re completely prepared for the meeting and you know exactly how you’re going to lead the meeting. You sit down, exchange pleasantries and your prospect says… “Let’s just cut to the chase. Tell me… how much is this going to cost?”

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